The iPhone 5 has a slightly larger display than the iPhone 4S, but come on, no one wants to watch movies on a tiny little 4-inch screen. You could go and buy an iPad or iPad Mini if you really want to watch movies on your iOS device, or you could save your self a few hundred dollars and buy this odd accessory that magnifies your screen size.

It only works for iPhone 4/4S right now, but the Mini Cinema also magnifies the audio of the iPhone while docked. You can’t use the magnification pane as a way to interact with your iPhone via touch, but if you’re the type that wants an extra monitor on your desk, or like to watch movies on your iPhone, this might be a killer accessory.

The Mini Cinema only cost $68, and it comes in both black and white models. Reviews for the device are scant, but at a relatively cheap price, it’s worth a shot and might be better than upgrading to an iPad Mini if you only planned to use it on watching movies.

Already do this in the car for the kids. It was less than $10 and it has a string around their necks and they hold the iphone or iPod touch behind it while watching movies. It was made for old people to see stuff better and it has worked fine for this. Just like the lazy susan I bought for my iMac to get to the back ports. Cost $3 and had it before all the special 3rd party makers were making custom ones for the iMacs that cost $40+ now. There’s a ton of old tech devices that enhance our current devices if someone simply uses their brains a little bit.

Arnoud van Houwelingen

This is stupid .. just buy an apple tv if you want to watch movies from the iphone to a bigger screen. It only cost 30 dollars more.

Terry Gilliam’s movie BRAZIL had a similar set-up for their “futuristic” steampunk computers… a small screen with a fresnel lens mounted a few inches in front of it… the input keyboard was like an old manual typewriter.